


In Dreams

by seasonofthegeek



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Marinette and Chat Noir meet in dreams, old family lore, the Agrestes are trying to collect all the Miraculous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22312792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasonofthegeek/pseuds/seasonofthegeek
Summary: For three years, Marinette has been dreaming of a guy in a costume who calls himself Chat Noir. They talk and cuddle and kiss and then she wakes up and all the details become a hazy memory she can't quite recall. She wants to believe Chat Noir is real and somewhere out there, but logic tells her she's crazy. And then she wakes up one morning to find a mysterious box on her nightstand with an even more mysterious note.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1

The first time it happened, it was scary. No one wants to wake up with a total stranger in a bed and in a room they don’t recognize. All of that is only compounded when the person who also suddenly appears in the bed is dressed as some kind of leather-loving cat guy. Marinette panicked and punched her bedmate in the nose as soon as he woke up.

That had been close to three years ago.

Now when Marinette rolled over with a yawn and realized she’d fallen into the dreamscape bedroom she sometimes dreamed of, she looked for Chat Noir and he always eventually joined her if he wasn’t already there. She’d never fallen asleep alone in her own bed and stayed alone the full night in her dream bed. He always came.

“Long time, no see, Princess,” Chat Noir said with a sleepy smile as soon as his eyes opened. 

“I know. It’s been months.” Marinette hugged one of the fluffy pillows to her chest. She leaned her head and shoulder against the fabric headboard. “I was beginning to think we couldn’t meet like this anymore.”

He yawned and sat up against the headboard so he was on her level. “Sorry. I think that might’ve been my fault.” He looked down at the black ring on his finger and closed his fist. “Something was wrong with my ring and I think it kept me from coming here. It’s fixed now though.” He met her eyes and there was nothing but fond adoration in them. “I really, really missed you.”

“I really, really missed you too.” She knew she was blushing and buried her face in her pillow with a giggle. They’d danced around each other like this for years, flirty and sweet and pining. But none of it was real. He wasn’t even real. Of course her mind made up an excuse as to why she hadn’t had one of these dreams in a while. She’d fallen for a man she’d dreamed up. She had to protect herself somehow.

“So tell me what you’ve been up to, my Mari.” Chat Noir tapped the pad of his finger against the tip of her nose, careful of the claw. “I’ve been going crazy thinking about you.”

“I’m sure you had plenty to keep you busy, Kitty.” She laughed and sat up. “I moved into an apartment with my best friend so that’s new. I was actually kind of afraid that’s why I wasn’t coming here anymore, which seems silly now. I even went back to spend the night at home one night just to see, but…” She trailed off, feeling her blush come back.

“Wait, you never dreamed about this room since the last time we were here?” He frowned. “Not even once?”

“No…”

“Oh. I guess I thought maybe it was just me who couldn’t get to it.” He looked down at his ring once more. 

“Ah, sure.”

He sighed. “Is this where you’re going to try to convince me I’m not real again?”

Marinette shook her head. “It never does any good.”

“Because I am real!”

She laughed and he joined her with his own chuckle. “Fine, fine, Chaton. Tell me what you’ve been up to the past few months then.”

“You mean besides missing you?”

She scrunched her nose in pleased embarrassment. “Yes, besides that.”

“Well, I, uh…I had a pretty big life change, I guess. I was doing some not so good things because I thought I was helping my family but I realized I needed to do what felt morally right and it’s caused a lot of issues.”

“Like the thing with your ring?”

His black ears drooped. “Yeah, and that’s just one thing. Actually, I’ve moved now too. Maybe we’re even closer to each other in real life.” He winked, trying to lighten the mood again. 

“Well, since we can’t seem to find a way to retain any of that kind of information when we leave here, I guess we’ll never know,” she teased. “I’m sorry you’re having a rough time though.”

“I think it’s going to be for the better in the end.” He relaxed against the headboard and met her eyes. “I can’t tell you how much this is helping though. I really have thought about you constantly. I was terrified I wasn’t going to see you ever again.”

She reached for him, cupping his cheek with her hand. He pressed against her palm and let his eyes close, a deep purr beginning in his chest. “I wish you were real,” she whispered, voice barely audible.

She’d fallen for Chat Noir and there was no one else she wanted. She politely turned down date requests and offers from her friends to set her up. She blamed work for being too busy and went to bed each night hoping she would see this weird, funny, sweet guy in a cat suit that she’d somehow dreamed up and been dumb enough to fall in love with.

He turned his face against her hand so he could press a kiss to her palm. “I am real,” he promised. “My name is Adrien Agreste. I’m real.”

She’d heard it before, of course. He told her his name and while they were in this room, she would recite it like a mantra in her head. 

Adrien Agreste.

Adrien Agreste.

Adrien Agreste.

And as soon as she woke up in her own bed, it was gone. She couldn’t even remember the name Chat Noir when she woke up; she just knew she missed him and love him and wanted to see him again. 

Sometimes she hated this dreamscape.

“I want to find you. I look for you everywhere,” he continued, pulling her closer to him. 

Marinette melted into his arms and listened to his heart beat against her ear. They’d had nights like this before but tonight felt more serious, more urgent. The three month gap in seeing each other had scared them both. 

“I will find you,” he promised, kissing the top of her head. “I’m never going to stop looking.”

His voice was beginning to sound faraway and Marinette knew she was falling back asleep. She would wake up in her own bed soon. She didn’t want to leave him yet. It’d been too fast and it’d been so long since they’d seen each other. She dug her fingers into the material of his suit to try to hold on but knew it was futile.

“I love you.” She saw the happy surprise in his eyes just before hers closed and then there was darkness.  
___

Marinette blinked up at her ceiling with a heavy sigh. She closed her eyes again and tried to remember his name. It was right there at the edge of her mind, taunting her. She finally gave up with a huff and sat up. She reached for her phone on her nightstand when something new caught her eye.

A small black box sat beside her phone with a folded slip of paper on top of it. She frowned and picked up the paper gingerly.

“He’s going to need help and he needs you.”

She turned the note over but there was nothing on the other side. “Well, that’s ominous…”

She brought the box closer and opened it carefully. A pair of spotted red earrings sat against black velvet. She touched one of them and it felt warm and familiar somehow.

Marinette looked back to the note, hope springing in her chest. This felt right. This felt like him.

With a deep breath, she took the earrings out of the box and slipped them into place.


	2. Chapter 2

“Goodness, I’ve missed you.”

Marinette was still blinking away the sleep from her eyes when Chat Noir pulled her to him in a tight hug. She laughed softly into his chest as she curled against him in the large dream bed. “It’s only been a week, Kitty.”

“And it felt like a hundred years,” he murmured into her hair. “I was afraid we’d lost each other again.”

She didn’t tease him because she’d been afraid of the same thing. She’d been so sure she would see him the first night she fell asleep with the mysterious earrings on but she’d woken up with no memory of any dreams. She’d hoped again the next night and by the third night, she’d put the earrings back in the box and hidden them away in her vanity. 

She wanted to tell him about the earrings but she felt a little silly about them now. It was naive to assume they’d had anything to do with him. He wasn’t even real, after all. For all she knew, Alya had left them as some kind of joke present, though she didn’t really believe that.

“Tell me about your week,” she prodded instead, turning her face up to his. 

“It was hard,” he admitted. “My family hasn’t been taking my leaving very well so I’m kinda hiding out right now.”

Marinette propped herself up on her elbow to get a better look at him. “That sounds serious, Chat.”

“I’m not in danger, not really.” He frowned and sat up. “They just need some time to cool off and realize what we were doing wasn’t good. It’ll be fine. I think my cousin might come around soon. We’ve been keeping contact.”

“I wish I could help you somehow.”

“Being here with you does help.” He gave her a lopsided grin but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “Besides, there’s someone else who’s trying to help me too. At least, I think he is. He keeps talking about a partner who will be able to watch my back. He knows all about my ring and the other Miraculous my family have.” He looked down at his black ring with a slight frown. 

Marinette tried very hard not to think about the earrings and the note that came with them. None of this was real.

Chat Noir’s gloved hand came up to cup her cheek, his thumb rubbing gently along the sensitive skin. 

None of this was real, she knew that. It was the mantra she had to repeat to herself over and over, but it felt so...

“Did he tell you anything else about your partner?” she asked, trying to distract herself.

He tilted his head in a amusement. “Feeling jealous, my princess?”

She snorted. “Leave it to me to concoct a fantasy life where I get jealous of someone who doesn’t exist for getting to spend time with someone else who doesn’t exist.”

Chat Noir’s brow furrowed beneath his black mask. “I hate when you say I don’t exist.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It’s just...this is hard. I want it to be real, but there’s too much telling me it isn’t.”

He shook his head ruefully. “I don’t know why we fell into each other’s lives like this. I don’t know why we can’t remember details when we wake up or why you only see me like this instead of without the mask. There are lots of things I don’t know, but what I do know is that this,” he guided her hand to his chest to place her palm to his chest, “this is the most real thing in my life. I love you, Marinette. I know I love you and I know that someday I’m going to find you, okay? I promise you, this is real.”

Marinette blinked against the tears stinging her eyes. "That’s some top level romantic comedy climax speech there, mister.” She sniffled. “I love you too, just so you know.”

Happiness filled his cat eyes and his mouth stretched into a wide smile. “You do?”

“Of course I do, you silly cat. I told you that before.” She buried her face against his chest, feeling her face burn. A deep rumbling purr began in his chest and she giggled at the vibration against her face. “Does that make you happy?”

Chat Noir hugged her to him. “The absolute happiest, you have no idea.” He groaned then and the purring ceased with the sound. “I’m waking up.” He tightened his hold on her. “I love you and I promise I’ll see you soon, Marinette.”

She wrapped her arms around him as if she could keep him with her by sheer force of will. “You can’t promise that.”

“I promise,” he repeated firmly and then Marinette blinked and she was looking up at her ceiling.

She blew out a low breath and sat up, catching her reflection in the vanity mirror across her room. She pursed her lips and then kicked the blankets away, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She crossed the room and opened the vanity drawer. The black box was still in the same place it had been since she’d moved it there. She picked up the small folded note and unfolded it carefully to read again. 

“He’s going to need help and he needs you.” 

Setting it aside, she lifted the box out of the drawer and opened the top. Her view of the earrings was interrupted by a sudden glowing orb of white and red and Marinette dropped the box in surprise.

“Oh!” A small red creature with large eyes appeared in front of her. “You must be my new holder! Master Fu told me he was working on fixing the earrings so they would be functional again. I hope you haven’t been waiting.” The creature tilted her head back and forth as if stretching her neck. “I didn’t think it would take so long though. I’m Tikki.” She said her name with a chiming giggle.

Marinette swallowed hard. “Wh...what?”

“Oh dear, you weren’t expecting me, were you?” She shook her head. “I’ve told him it’s better to tell holders what to expect. it makes the transition so much easier.” She shook herself. “I’m your kwami.”

“Kwami,” Marinette echoed. 

“Could you put in the earrings please? I can’t stay like this very long without them in use.”

She eyed the kwami warily before reaching for the earrings and slipping them in. Tikki visibly relaxed once she’d done so. “I don’t understand.”

“Should I start from the beginning?”

Marinette glanced around her room as if there would be some other explanation to be found. After a moment, she returned her attention to the creature. “I think that’d be for the best, yeah.”  
___

Ladybug yelped as she came to a stumbling halt on a rooftop. The excitement of sailing through the air with the aid of the yo-yo was hampered by her awkward landings. She’d been at it for almost an hour and wasn’t sure she was getting any better. Tikki had assured her it would take some getting used to though so she was going to keep going.

She took in a steadying breath and observed her surroundings. It had surprised her how helpful she’d found flying through the air for clearing her mind. The kwami filled her in on an entire world she knew nothing about but her thoughts kept straying to the Black Cat holder the kwami mentioned. That had to be Chat Noir. It only made sense. 

If it wasn’t him, she was going to chalk this all up to some three-year fever dream and throw the earrings into the Seine. That was the only logical thing she could do.

But if it was him...

Ladybug scanned the horizon once more but she couldn’t find who she was looking for. “Well,” she sighed, readying her yo-yo once more, “practice makes perfect, and I’m not going to stop til I find you, Chat.” With one last look, she shot into the air once more.  
___

“The Ladybug Miraculous is back in play now,” Multix reported, tone lazy as he leaned in the doorway. “She seems young and untrained. Shouldn’t be hard to take down.”

Gabriel Agreste looked up from his work, interest piqued. “Did you approach her?”

Multix dropped his transformation as he ventured further into the office and dropped down into a chair. “No, thought it best just to observe first,” Felix answered. “No sign of Adrien either, if you were wondering.”

“He’ll show himself soon. The Black Cat will be drawn to the Ladybug. The Guardian is doing all our work for us.”

“If you say so.”

Gabriel smiled and looked back down at the grimoire he’d been studying. “It’s just a matter of time now.”


End file.
